Why was this story in the Guardian’s Israel section?

While it may seem intuitive to many that Israel is likely behind the Stuxnet worm that’s apparently attempting to wreak havoc on computers at Iranian nuclear plants – and, I, for one, certainly wouldn’t lose any sleep if it that was indeed the case – there hasn’t even been, to the best of my knowledge, anyone who has even suggested that they have proof regarding who exactly was behind the virus.

Indeed, the Guardian article on Nov. 16, titled, “Stuxnet worm aimed to Sabotage Iran’s nuclear ambition, new research shows,” by Josh Halliday, doesn’t even attempt to make the case for Israeli culpability. They do cite “Security Experts” who claim that “the attack was likely a state-sponsored case of “modern espionage”. Ok, that seems fair. But, couldn’t the state sponsor just as likely be the United States? The article doesn’t address the possibility. Another story on the topic in the Guardian, which appeared on Sept. 30, titled “Stuxnet worm heralds a new era of global cyber war“, by Peter Beaumont, quotes another expert, who claims that three counties “…had the motivation and capability to mount the Stuxnet attack on Iran: the US, Israel and the UK.”

(You know that tracing the origin of such computer worms is a maddeningly complicated task when the best an expert witness can do is offer his or her best guess on who likely had the motive and capacity.)

Interestingly, the only time Israel is referenced at all in Halliday’s piece is in this throw away line at the end, citing another security expert, who says:

“I think we will see more and more attacks which will be blamed on state-sponsored cyber attacks. There have been numerous attacks in the past which could be said to have possible military, political or economic motives, but it is very difficult to prove that a hack was ordered by Mossad or instead dreamt up by a Macclesfield student.”

We’ll see if, in the interest of fairness, the next story on Stuxnet appears in the Guardian’s Cheshire section.